Fire triangle
by pl12
Summary: A fire incident takes an entire family, leaving the CID with barely enough evidence and a vague suspect. A deeper dig into the case brings them to an almost similar case, a fire that happened twenty years ago, leading them to a deaf and mute witness with a psychiatric history.
1. Prologue

" Tum idhar hi raho, theek hai ? "

" Par ma…" nine-year-old Aakash whimpered.

" Sshh. Main yaha hi hoon. Tum Rahul ko dekho, theek hai ?"

Aakash nodded a little, gazing down at his baby brother who was wrapped in his blanket, still fast asleep, despite being taken from his crib to be hidden with his brother inside the wardrobe.

"Papa kaha hai ?" Aakash asked before his mother closed the wardrobe.

Stammering, she answered, " Woh... woh yehi hai, Aakash."

The truth was she didn't know where Vikash was now. The last time she had seen him, he was talking to Dave, their pool boy, in Vikash's study. But something was wrong with that young man, she just knew it and her suspicion had mounted when Dave closed the door to the study and she heard voices being raised. But she didn't dare confront him. Her priority right now was making sure that her children were safe.

She shut the door to the wardrobe and backed off from it, "Sab theek ho jayega, Aakash. Sab theek ho jayega."

She fumbled into the pocket of her jeans for the cell phone. Her hand shaking, and trying to press the emergency as she turned around and...

Dave was standing before her, his grin showing his teeth and his mouth stretched so wide it looked inhuman.

The cell phone slipped out of her hand and she screamed.


	2. Chapter 1

The car moved forward steadily with neither of the two companions speaking a word for the last 10 minutes. Abhijit could feel Daya's eyes on him, but he ignored them. But Daya was not the type to stay silent too long.

" Tum theek ho na ? " Daya threw another glance at him.

Abhijit shrugged, "Main idhar hi hoon, hai ki nahi ?"

But it wasn't like Daya to get shut down that easily.

" Dekho, Abhijit, jo ho gaya, so ho gaya. Tumne koshish toh ke. "

"Phir bhi, yaar. Musjhe thora aur jaldi aa jaana chahiye tha. Agar aur jaldi aata toh shayaad... shayaad Jagdish baach sakta tha. "

" Maine kaha na, Abhijit. Ismein tumhara koi galti nahi hai... Aur waise bhi, jisne Jagdish ko mara tha, woh toh jail mein hai… Usse bhi saaja milega, tum dekh lena. "

" Jagdish mera kaafi accha dost tha. Hum logo ki training bhi saath saath hua tha. Yaar, biswas nahi hota musjhe. Kaal hi maine usse mall mein dekha tha aur aaj..."

Knowing Abhijit, Daya knew that it will take some time for him to get over the loss of his friend, having being killed by a serial killer. Having nothing to voice his thoughts, Daya simply squeezed Abhijit's thigh gently.

" Aab sara din, kya yehi karte rahogi ?" Abhijit asked teasingly, while giving a pointed stare at his thigh, where Daya's hand is still resting.

"Aww," Daya cut him off teasingly, " Kya tumhe sharam aa raha hai ? Chinta maat karo, boss. Yaha sirf hum dono hi hai aur door door tak koi nahi hai. "

Abhijit cuffed his partner's arm playfully, "Chup raho aur gaari chalao."

The rest of the four-hour drive felt easier for Daya and his heart was no longer heavy with the thoughts of Abhijit's sadness.

They decided to go straight to the fire scene before checking into their bureau. The fire had happened two hours before, in a small town, four hours away from Mumbai. The report had come into the office just as the whole team was getting ready to retire for the night, and Daya and Abhijit had left first thing, the moment they came to know of this news.

* * *

Reaching the place, Abhijit could see how the house could easily be classified as a manor before it burned down. The "before'' photos had shown a white two-story building with Spanish architecture. There were oak hardwood floors, double paneled doors, and a lot of antique furnishings in teak and mahogany. The house itself covered about four thousand square feet, sitting in the middle of two hundred acres of land, that was forested on three sides, isolating it from its nearest neighbours. But there wasn't much left of the house now but blackened high pillars, parts of the white walls, and fallen roof beams. Abhijit nodded when Daya asked his permission to assign their subordinates to investigate the front part.

Abhijit crossed over to what had been the front doorway to the wide hall. He looked at the section of the wall, containing the remains of the window, outside which the broken glass had been discovered. So someone managed to escape before the flames had reached that part of the house. According to the report, the first telephone call had been received by the operator a little after midnight but fifteen minutes later, the fires had already spread over the whole house.

The caller, a neighbour behind the estate, had reported seeing flames at the rear of the house. It made sense that it gave someone, time to escape through the front window, Abhijit mused, as he carefully removed the ashes and dust from what was left of the window sill with a soft brush, looking for fingerprints. It was going to take a more thorough investigation as he couldn't gather a single fingerprint so Abhijit nodded to Purabi and Nikhil, and ordered them to take photos of that area.

The evidence of the rapid spread of the fires told him that whoever had done this, used accelerants and now it was their job to find the points where those accelerants had been strategically placed.

Moving ahead, Abhijit met Rajat half way into the house in what had probably been a dining room in the past.

" Sir, woh caller theek hi keh raha tha, aag piche se hi shuru huwa tha, shayaad basement mein se" Rajat said, "Aur," he looked around, " local police ka bhi yehi kehna hai ki aakri victim wohi par mila tha ."

" Lagta toh yehi hai." Abhijit said, confirming Rajat's suspicions.

Abhijit had learned that the victim, was a man, about mid-thirties, with a dent at the back of his head that had been discernible despite his charred body. He felt his stomach churning as he recalled, where and how the other bodies had been found. Two small ones had been discovered inside a scorched wardrobe and another, a woman, most probably the mother, was in the far left wing of the house. It was one thing to read all those things from the report when you were sitting at your desk but it was completely another when you were standing where the crime had been committed and the smell of burning bodies lingered in the air – even when the latter was only in your imagination.

"Abhijit ?"

Abhijit jumped when Daya's hand came to rest on his shoulder, and half sheepishly, he turned to him.

"Haan. Woh baache ki maut kaise hui ? "

Daya blinked away moisture that was suddenly blurring his sight, nevertheless, nodded in response to his senior's question, with Abhijit noting that even his partner is also having difficulty talking about the victims.

Swallowing, Daya responded " Haan, local police ka yehi kehna hai ki woh baache aag se jaalne se pehle se hi mar chukka tha."

Abhijit did not know whether he should feel angry or relieved by that information. One thing was certain, the murderer would be hunted down and punished as severely as the law allowed. He would make sure of that. Abhijit rubbed his eyes before giving his attention to Sachin, who has now reached them with Freddy and Shruti in tow.

"Sir, hum logo ne sprinkler system ko bhi check kiya. Yaha kuch garbar hai." Sachin said in a tense voice.

"Garbar matlab ?" Abhijit asked with a questioning gaze.

" Kisine system ko jaan bujkar kharab karke rakha hai."

" Tum logo ne acchi tarah se check kiya tha ?"

" Haan sir."

" Par aisa kaun kar sakta hai ?" Shruti asked.

" Wohi toh. Paisa ke liye agar nahi, toh kiske liye ?"

At this question, all eyes turned to Abhijit.

" Tumhe kaise pata chala ?" Daya asked with a calculating gaze on Abhijit.

" Maine logo se poocha tha. Iss ghar ke owner ke already death ho chuka hai. Toh zahir se baat hai ki yeh saab paiso ke liye nahi ho raha hai."

" Theek hai. Chalo, maan lete hai ki yeh saab paiso ke liye nahi ho raha hai, toh phir kis baat ke liye ?"

However, that remains the million dollar question.


	3. Chapter 3

After the investigation, they met back at the bureau. Daya had interviewed the fire chief and one of his men, and Abhijit, the neighbor who had called them. The firefighters had confirmed what they had deduced from the scene about the gas and accelerants used by the arsonist. The fire had been started with a simple device, nothing complicated. They had also provided Daya with photographs, maps and the blueprints of the building.

Abhijit had also got similar cooperation from the cops. They agreed to share with Abhijit what they knew about the family. The deceased was Vikash Desai, 37, a successful architect with old family money backing him up. His wife, Anita, was a budding novelist with a best-seller under her belt. Their sons had been seven and two.

" Toddler hi tha," Daya said, his voice betraying his grief.

" Haan," Abhijit was lost in his own thoughts.

" Bhala aisa kaun kar sakta hai ? Jisne bhi yeh sab kiya yeh aadmi hai ya nahi ?", Rajat asks with a disgusting note in his voice.

" Aur upar se poore family ko hi jaala diya. Ek ko bhi jinda nahi chora usne." Sachin adds.

" Wohi toh," Daya adds, " aur aisa kya naubat aa pari ki poore ke poore family ko hi jaalana para. "

Daya hesitates, trailing off.

For a moment, only silence prevailed, with Abhijit breaking the silence, a few seconds later, " Vikash ne woh ghar inherit kiya tha. Unka koi nahi tha, koi family nahi. Par koi ek Rajen hai, Vikash ke patni ka bhai."

" Kisine usko Anita ke baare mein bataya hai ya nahi ?" Daya asked.

" Haan sir, bataya hai. Woh aab isi seher mein hi hai, police ke hisaab se, aur uska haalat bohot kharab hai." Vineet said.

" Woh acting bhi kar sakta hai."

" Nahi, Sachin. Mujhe nahi lagta ki yeh Rajen acting kar raha hai." Abhijit said, in response to his suspicion, " Kyunki police ka kehna hai ki Rajen ko Vikash aur uska paise se koi matlaab nahi tha. Toh jaahir se baat hai ki woh Vikash ke beneficiaries ke list mein nahi hai."

" Phir bhi hume usse baat karna parega." Daya confirmed.

" Woh toh hai." Abhijit answered, now turning fully towards all of them, " Tum log ek kaam karo. Tum, Daya, Nikhil se saath jaakar iss Rajen se milo. Aur Rajat aur Freddy, tum dono bhi jao, aur Vikash ke poori background details nikalo, saath mein Anita ka bhi. Sachin, Shruti, tum dono Dr. Salunkhe ki maadad karna inn laasho ko Forensic lab bhejne mein. Woh baas aate hi honge."

Nodding, all went to their respective tasks, leaving Abhijit and Purabi alone.

" Sir, aapko poora yakeen hai ki yeh saab kuch iss Rajen ne nahi kiya ?"

" Aabhi tak toh nahi. Par, Ramakant,jisne hum logo call kiya tha, usne toh kuch aur hi kaha."

" Kya kaha sir ?"

" Iss ghar mein inn charo ke alabha aur do aadmi rehte the."

" Aur do ?" Purabi asked surprised, " Woh dono kaun the sir ?"

" Ek housekeeper aur ek pool boy. Ramakant ke hisaab se housekeeper kaamse kaam chaalesh aur pool boy ka unneesh ya bees saal ka uss samay jab yeh ghar jaala tha toh ek bhi ghar mein nahi tha."

" Haan, sir. Tabhi toh hume sirf char hi laashein mili, nahi toh unn dono ka bhi milte. Par sir, kya Ramakant yeh poore yakeen ke saath ke sakte hai ki woh dono wohi nahi the ?"

" Wohi toh problem hai, Purabi. Ramakant khud bhi itna sure nahi hai ki woh dono iss ghar mein the ya nahi. Unka kehna hai ki woh shock mein chale gaye jab unhe yeh pata chala ki yeh paarivar aur nahi raha."

" Phir, sir, hume inn dono se baat karna parega." Purabi confirmed while coming out of the manor, with Abhijit, on the lookout for Dr. Salunkhe.

" Haan, Purabi…. Baat toh karna parega hi….." Abhijit trails off, prompting Purabi to look at him, who now, is looking at the manor with a sad expression.

"Kya baat hai, sir ?"

" Ek parivaar ki aise hi bebaaja maut….. Yaha tak ki baacho ko bhi nahi chora….." Abhijit said, with a slight of of disbelief sliding in his tone, mixing with the sad element.

" Chahe kuch bhi ho jaye, sir, hum logo ko iss khooni ko pakar na hi pargega."

Abhijit did not say anything, but she knows that he is also thinking along the same lines.


End file.
